Diamondlot

Heat of Battle

Nadya drew her swords and Jiyah tightened her gauntlets as they prepared to face Cole. He was a fire mage that didn’t need a wand or a staff, just his hands. As they were about to begin the battle, Reina interrupted them with a question that had been on her mind, “Why are you fighting alongside Dragkonis?” Cole had the look of confusion on his face. “Jawad told us about what happened. You don’t have to do this, together we can..” before she could finish, Cole fired a small fire bolt from his hand, missing Reina on purpose.

“Enough! I have my reasons for what I do. Don’t think a few simple words will change my mind.” Cole retorted. “Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider? It's three against one right now. The odds are not in your favour.” announced Nadya. However, Cole didn’t fall for her bluff, “Nice try, I already know Reina isn’t much of a fighter. Plus your partner over there doesn’t even have a weapon. She just has some gloves on. Therefore, I’m hardly outnumbered in this fight.” Jiyah’s eye began to light up in excitement, “Ha, you are about to find out why I don’t need a weapon!”

As Jiyah was running to combat the fire mage, Nadya told Reina to find cover until their battle was over. Once Reina was in a safe area, Nadya joined Jiyah in their battle against their hot tempered opponent. Jiyah was quick to close the distance between her and Cole but she was unable to land a solid hit. Cole proved to be a lot more nimble than most wizards.

Even with the combined efforts of Nadya, Cole was still dodging their attacks with relative ease. Getting increasingly aggravated, Jiyah grabbed some dust on the ground and threw it at her opponent. The dust caught Cole off guard as some particles got caught in his eye. Seeing this as an opportune time, Nadya swung both her swords full force but Cole managed to jump out of the way despite being partially blind.

As the girls were catching their breath, Cole was able to rub the remains of the dust in his eyes out. When he finished, he noticed that a small part of his hair was cut short and there was a rip in his garment. He realized that if he kept fooling around, he could actually lose. It was here where he took a deep breath and decided to fight seriously.

His hands began to glow red and out from them came fire bolts darting out towards Jiyah and Nadya. They were able to use their speed to evade the oncoming attacks but they had no way of getting near Cole. They found a rock to hide behind for cover while they attempted to figure out a new strategy.

Cole was blasting the rock from the other side, which meant there wasn’t much time for the duo to come up with a plan. Under the pressure of being under fire, Nadya came up with a makeshift idea. Jiyah wasn’t completely on board but without any other tactics, she went along.

Nadya jumped out of cover leaving herself a wide open target for Cole. He gladly fired a barrage of fire bolts at his new target. Seeing the oncoming attack, Nadya calmed her nerves and then began to twirl her swords rapidly. With full concentration, she was able to dodge and repel the fire bolts that came her way. Cole could not believe what he was witnessing, no swords man or woman he faced had ever invented a technique like this.

While his attention was still on Nadya, Jiyah snuck around the terrain and now made a final blitz towards the fire mage. Reina was watching from the distance and as Jiyah was getting closer, she felt something within that warned her that Jiyah was walking into a trap. Reina jumped out of hiding and yelled as loud as she could. The cries managed to reach Jiyah’s ear, slowing her down and that was when Cole turned around, expecting the sneak attack. In response, Cole let out a fire nova that radiated around him, blasting Jiyah a fair distance back.

Reina rushed to Jiyah to see the extent of her injuries. Jiyah’s arms were slightly burnt and she had many bruises all over but nothing serious. “You saved her.” Cole interrupted. “If you hadn’t got her to stop midway, she would have taken the full force of that attack, which would have been very problematic.” Jiyah’s eyes opened and she was trying to get back up to fight but Reina stopped her. “Keep her down, or else I will be forced to finish her.” He said as he shifted his attention to battling Nadya.

Jiyah kept attempting to get back up but Reina kept holding her down. They argued back and forth with Reina telling Jiyah that she didn’t want her to get hurt anymore. Eventually, Jiyah forced her way and stood up. “Sorry Reina, I can’t leave Nadya to fight that guy alone. Please forgive me.”

Reina fell to her knees and a bunch of emotions began to rush towards her. She was thinking about why she started her journey, how she wanted to protect everyone but always felt like she fell short. She put hands over her face and tears were about to flow but suddenly, she heard a voice, “Go!”

Nadya continued her defensive stance against Cole, dodging and deflecting any fiery projectile that came her way. But it wouldn’t last, Nadya was beginning to slow down and Cole raised the intensity of his fire bolt into a hotter and larger fireball. Despite dodging the direct attack, the impact from the hit sent Nadya falling to the ground. As Cole slowly approached, Jiyah jumped from behind in an attempt to land a sucker punch but Cole turned around, grabbed her arm and threw her against Nadya.

Jiyah fell unconscious and Nadya tried with all her effort to get up but could not. Cole slowly walked towards them until he was a couple feet away. He acknowledged the efforts of the young fighters and even admitted that if they trained for another two years or so, they probably would have beaten him. He raised his right hand, which began to glow red and light up with fire. He apologized to both the girls, he didn’t want to do it, but he had no choice. He then released a fire laser from his hand and directed it right at Jiyah and Nadya.

The flame made contact and engulfed the area near them. Seeing the fire burn bright and fierce, Cole began to turn around to leave but he noticed something moved within the fire and stopped. He couldn’t believe it but Nadya and Jiyah were still alive in the fire.

They were enveloped in a magical bubble shield that temporarily prevented them from getting burnt. Somehow, Nadya found new strength within and pulled Jiyah out of the fire with her while the shield was still in effect.

Cole was astonished by what had happened, “How is this possible? Neither of you should be able to cast magic, except…” He then looked behind and in the distance was Reina who had her hands out. She was the one who had casted the protection aura on her friends.

The spell took quite a bit of magic, which Reina was not used to, leaving her quite exhausted. Realizing this, Cole slowly made his way towards Reina to finish her off. However, Nadya would not allow it as she ran and stood in front of Reina before Cole could reach her. Unamused, Cole launched fire bolts towards her which she was able to deflect away with her swords. However, as Cole increased the intensity of his attacks, Nadya was beginning to feel the heat of the fire. Despite being burned on her arms, she stood her ground to protect her friend.

Reina could barely stand, but she tried to convince Nadya to run and stop taking damage but she was too stubborn and focused on protecting her. “Why won’t you just fall already?!” Cole shouted in frustration. In his impatience, he channeled all his magic into one intensive ray of fire creating a massive explosion where the girls stood.

As the smoke cleared, he saw both the girls lying on the ground battered and bruised but not burned. Reina managed to use her remaining strength to cast a shield to prevent them from getting incinerated. Cole was in disbelief that they survived but he knew he had the battle won despite being drained of most of his energy. As he was about to get back up and make his way to finish off his opponents, he felt a tap on his right shoulder. Turning his head around, he met the eyes of someone he completely forgot about, Jiyah.

With all her strength, she threw her first punch, “This is why...” then an uppercut “I don’t need a weapon...” and finally a roundhouse, “Cause I am the weapon!” After the three hit combination, the fire mage fell hard to the ground and was knocked out. Jiyah had claimed victory with the help of her friends and the first thing she did after winning was make her way to them.